The present invention broadly relates to winding machinery for forming storage coils and, more specifically, pertains to a new and improved construction of an apparatus for winding flexible, substantially two-dimensional or flat products, especially printed products, arriving continuously, especially in imbricated formation, together with a winding strap into a product coil or wound package and for unwinding the products from such a coil or wound package. The present invention also relates to a winding core for employment with such an apparatus.
Generally speaking, the apparatus of the present invention comprises a substantially hollow and substantially cylindrical winding core drivable in a winding procedure and a support arrangement for rotatably and releasably supporting the winding core.
The winding core of the present invention is substantially hollow and substantially cylindrical and is intended for employment in the apparatus of the invention.
It is known to the art to wind printed products discharged by a rotogravure machine in imbricated formation conjointly with a winding strap or a pair of winding straps upon a winding core (cf. Swiss Pat. No. 559,691, granted Jan. 31, 1975; German Pat. No. 3,123,888 and the corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 4,438,618, granted March 27, 1984; as well as the German Patent Publication No. 3,236,866 and the corresponding British Patent Publication No. 2,107,681, both corresponding to the U.S. patent application Ser. No. 06/432,557, filed Oct. 4, 1982). The completed printed product coils or wound packages are then stored in an intermediate storage station and removed from the intermediate storage station at a desired later time and conducted to a processing station. The printed products are removed from the storage coil or wound package at this processing station by an unwinding procedure.
The apparatus known from the aforementioned Swiss Pat. No. 559,691 comprises a shaft which is driven in the winding up procedure and upon which the empty winding core, respectively a hollow cylindrical winding core carrying the coil or wound package, must be mounted. The inside diameter of the winding core corresponds to the outside diameter of the shaft. The mounting of the winding core on the shaft and the retraction of the winding core from the shaft is difficult and also requires a certain amount of care. Furthermore, the winding core must be precisely machined for a good seat on the shaft.
The known winding core is provided with side cheeks or side plates for facilitating transport which are configured as rolling surfaces or flanges. The economy of space in storing the empty winding cores, however, leaves something to be desired due to these side plates. Furthermore, the fabrication of such winding cores is relatively complicated.